Lights and Loud Noises
by Winslow Fisherman
Summary: The storm had settled but what lied in the forest did not. The animals, the manor, they were all looking for someone to save them, but could the captive Sora do it? Would he be able to overcome the terror within the manor and save anything? I ask in this story, can a world have nothing but darkness without a hint of light?
**I** **do not own Kingdom Hearts. Everything else is fictional.**

Lights and Loud Noises

"Dreams are the hopes we have in the good in us.

Nightmares are the desires of the darkness in our soul."

\- Orel Myshton

* * *

Why is the world black? Am I dreaming? I hope so because my heart hurts. Why is someone whistling in my ear? Why do I feel cold and wet? What's going on? Huh, what's going on? This building, this mansion, how'd I get outside it. Why is there a metal collar around my neck? Where are Donald and Goofy? The questions need to stop, but…

* * *

 _Hoot, hoot_ ; an owl makes note to the world that everything is ok. The storm has come to an end and all may rejoice in song. Outside the manor a young man with spiky hair lays on the ground with a metal collar around his neck. The tall green grass acts as his soft mattress but the sound of the winged creature makes him open his eyes and rise up from rest on his woodland bed.

"What happened to me?" Sora says. He looks at the collar and remembers, "Oh yeah, I dropped from thinking too much," he says. He looks at the manor behind him and feels a cold chill run down his spine. "What's it about that place that my heart is running faster than normal?"

A flashback image runs through the awake's head. He sees a figure with dark brown fur and metal claws running through a forest right behind him. Donald and Goofy are at his side. The group run into the house, lock it, and the recollection ends. Sora shakes his head.

"I remember now, how I got here," says the awake. He looks out at the forest that has darkness covering it from head to toe. "There was a monster chasing us," he adds and looks at the manor behind him. "We all got in here, locked it, but what happened after that…I don't remember," he says and looks at the collar. "How did you get on me?"

 _Squeak, Squeak_ ; a small high pitch voice cries out in the night. Sora freezes up, the direction came from behind the building. He sees a shadow on the left wall. The creature is here. It's taking out a squirrel from a cage, slicing it open and eating its organs. The awake moves quietly to get a closer look. He finds that there are many small woodland animals in cages. The monster looks at the dead he has, smiles and gives it a kiss on the lips.

"Sleep, sweet prince," the creature says. It turns its head to Sora and then back to its possession. "Come, we shall have a 'talk' inside with the others."

Sora summons his keyblade, ready to fight. "Stop!" he screams. The creature takes off, the dead in his hand. "Come back here!" the investigator screams. He stops though when the monster makes an abrupt halt, turns and readies his metal claws for the chaser to run right into him. Sora stops a few feet away from the deadly assets. His foe takes off and dives into the backdoor of the manor, locking it behind him. "Ugh, I need to get in there and find that thing before it gets to my friends."

Sora makes a turn around. As he makes his way back to the front, something grabs his attention. Some of the cages are bloody, yes, the monster shows its brutality. The odd attraction though is that they hold corpses of small dead animals who are ripped open, their legs and arms tied to the sides of the cage, and reveal themselves on their back.

"Does that thing have any respect?" Sora coughs. "I got to find Donald and Goofy fast."

* * *

The horrified continues his way back to the front. Once he's at the main door he feels a small pain in his heart, only it's more uncomfortable than a real hurt, its butterflies, yes those small winged insects that exist in the dreams of all things good and beautiful. As Sora moves a hand towards the knob, the wings flutter, creating a need to stop, cringe and overcome the fear of what may behind the entry. Three…two…one…the path into the manor comes into sight.

The explorer flashes back in time again. The horrified and his friends are in the manor. The wall beside the stairs to the right is lined with gutted squirrels like from outside except there's no cage to hold them in. They're chained one to another like a link. The flooring on the ground and stairs are torn up, as if something with sharp toenails had come by to sharpen its deadly assets.

The trio can see the dinning room is a complete mess with dirty plates everywhere. Flies buzz around the dead animal bones that are laying on them giving off a horrible stench. The tables have the same damage as the flooring, of the stairs and ground. Crystal glasses have seen better days. They're in pieces. He who enters the dining room might get hurt. They should take it slow and watch their step.

The kitchen is a slaughter house, or perhaps torture chamber, that's the look anyway. Big animals; as wolves, deer, and a bear hang from meat hooks. Drills, electronic meat slicers and shots carrying numbness chemicals lay on a counter. Dried blood stains the ground along with chunks of flesh. Seems like clean up isn't part of the job in this manor.

"Aw, my head hurts," says Sora. Without thinking he steps in. _Fwoosh, bam_ ; the wind slams the front door shut behind him. _Click_ ; the entry locks by mistake. "Can't turn back now."

The explorer looks around, seeing no changes since he first stopped by. He cups his hands ready to call out for his friends when a warning light goes off in his head. If he raises his voice, it may draw the creature. He does have his weapon, but it won't help with the thing possessing the element of surprise since it seems to know the grounds of every place they've been. This creature, what is it exactly?

"Donald, Goofy," Sora whispers. He moves down the hallway, past the dining room, kitchen and stairs to the back door where the creature entered. At the back he turns, seeing a door in the back of the stairs. He walks over, grabs the knob and turns it, finding it twist off, falling to the ground with a small clunk sound. "Well, guess I can't lock this door," he adds and watches the entry open revealing stairs leading down into darkness. "Now, where do you go?"

The explorer makes way down the steps, stopping upon finding a light switch. He flips it up and finds that the place is a basement. There are meat hooks with blood on them, auto tools, even collars like Sora has and Goofy chained to the back of a wall. Goofy! The poor happy soul of the group with horrible burn marks, bits of his ears missing, and his clothing in ruins. The explorer runs over to his friend and begins to breathe ferociously.

"That monster, I'm going to kill that thing," says Sora. He begins to search around, looking for a way to free his friend. No key can be found, but perhaps a tool may be able to do the job. A blow torch to be more precise. Its flame should be able to cut through the chains that bind his friend. "Hang in there Goofy. I'll have you out of there in a jiffy."

The explorer grabs the tool and sets up shop to get his friend free. The chained one hears the flame burning and opens his eyes slowly. They are blood red. He begins to snarl lowly with a foaming of the mouth. Sora looks at him, jumping back and drops the blow torch.

"Goofy, what happened to you?" Sora whispers. He watches the foam from his friend's mouth fall to the ground. The red eyes, he feels like they're coming from a mad, lost, tormented soul than from the well known Goofy. "Why? Why did this happen to you?" the explorer adds, moving forward slowly to get a better look, "Don't worry, I'm going to get us out of here as soon as we find…" he trails off as Goofy lashes out at him in an attempt to bite at his body, "The monster, it did something to you…"

Sora turns away and makes way back upstairs. He looks back, hearing the low growl of his unrecognizable friend. Hopefully there is a way to change him back. It would be great to see the same cheerful Goofy. He opens the door to the basement, enters into the hallway and closes it behind him. He makes his way down the hall, looking up at the steps and wonders what might be up there.

* * *

 _Rip, rip, rip_ ; the sound of something hard and rough being torn off catches the ears of the explorer. Sora walks quietly, cautiously to where the sound is coming from, the kitchen. He makes his way around, ducking up against the squirrel wall, then slowly pokes his head out and watches the creature that's been here the whole time skinning a bear. He observes the monster sawing off the claws and toenails.

"That's one down, only the deer and the wolf are left," the creature growls. It smiles and pats the bear on its skinned head. "Thanks for waiting, my work was just so backed up."

"What is it talking about?" Sora mutters to himself. "What is that thing?"

The creature turns towards the entrance into the kitchen but the watcher looks away just in time. "Is someone there? Is that you? My new playmate?"

The observer moves quietly and quickly up the stairs. "Got to get to the second level."

Sora continues traveling until he makes it to his destination. He makes a dive to the left behind a wall, but looks cautiously below, watching the dark brown fur figure emerge from the kitchen. It sniffs, smiling and begins to look around. It moves on its feet, flexes its hands, creating a strange clinking sound for its sharp claws. The hunted moves away quietly, further down his side of the hall, hearing the monster whistle.

"Come out and play little doggy, I just want to show you how things go around here," the creature says. _Creak, creak_ ; he moves to the back and stops, looking at the doorknob on the floor of the basement. "Are you downstairs?" it asks. He pushes the door open and hears the chained growling deep in the darkness. "I see you woke up your friend. You shouldn't have done that, he's a real animal now, just like the rest of us here."

Sora turns and looks to see a door open part way. He moves quietly to it, opens it and enters into a small bedroom. He closes the door, hoping the creature will continue its talk, and hopefully, give up. The hunted lets out a sigh, but stops as a shadow casts itself from the moon outside to grab his attention. It makes him turn to see that Donald, his other friend, is chained straight up to a bed. He wears a collar, anklets and cuffs, but it seems they do not help his dry face, he must've been crying for a long time.

"Donald," Sora whispers. He moves over to his pal, placing a hand on his friend who jumps and begins to shake violently. "Hey, hey, calm down. It's me, Sora."

The duck looks up and places his head on his friends chest. "Sora, Sora, why did you come back? He's going to kill us all."

"'He?' You mean that thing? You know what it is?"

"It's blacker than a heartless, it's a…"

 _Creak, creak_ ; something is coming up the steps. The explorer sees a bright light from out underneath the door approaching nearer by the second. Sora looks at his friend who looks at a closet and motions his head to get in quickly. The explorer ducks in closing the door. He almost screams when he finds that in there are different animal heads, legs and feet hanging on strings, or in piles. He turns away, thinking of clean imagery, but its cut off by the dark brown fur creature entering the room.

"Where is he duck?" inquires the monster, "Where did he go?"

"He didn't come by," replies Donald. The creature comes close to him, strokes his fur with his metal claws and grins pleasantly. "Please stop. What do you want from us?"

"You, the dog man, and that boy are my new pets. The animals around here aren't as fun to play with as you all are. So what do I want, playmates that can endure all of my wildest fantasies."

"Sick'o, what you're doing is messed up."

"Tell me where the boy is! Tell me where Sora is!"

"He didn't come by!"

The creature grabs the duck's head and licks it. "You taste delicious raw, but as I've heard, it's not good to consume raw meat unless you want a food borne illness."

"I thought you wanted playmates."

"This is play, for you see, I'm going to cut you up just a little bit and see what you taste like. We're playing chef, where I'm the chef and you're the entree," replies the monster. It raises its metal claws ready to strike, but lowers them as it spots the closet door, seeing bits and pieces of the explorer. "Or you could tell him to come out and play."

"He's not here."

The dark brown fur creature raises its metal claws again and slashes Donald's stomach. "I guess its onto the fun," he says and watches the duck drop his head. "Passed out already huh? Well, you are losing a lot of blood."

Sora's rage is boiling but he can't leave. It knows he's here, but why didn't it attack him instead of his friend? This monster is playing at something, but the answer he cannot see. He watches as the creature licks Donald's wounds and sighs smoothly. It's happy by the looks of it. The creature turns to look at the closet again and grins. It's taunting him, it wants to fight, but the explorer can't not leave. He watches as the dark brown, fur monster exits the room, leaving him alone with his wounded friend.

* * *

"Donald," the hider whispers. He's just about to exit when the floor gives way. He screams and falls right back into the basement. "I've got to get back up there and save Donald before that thing comes back," he says and looks around seeing his pal, Goofy, is nowhere to be found. "Hey, where is he? Where's Goofy?"

There's a deep, low growl and Sora looks to a spot in the room where its pitch black. At first he sees nothing then red eyes reveal themselves. The explorer stands up, looking to the steps that lead to the basement door and begins to move. As he does, the unchained, mad man dog emerges from the darkness. He bears his teeth with foam dripping onto the floor in endless buckets.

"Goofy, I don't know what that thing did to you, but can you remember who I am?" inquires Sora. The amigo only continues its deep, low growl and advances forward with its blood red eyes. "It's me, Sora. Remember. Sora, we've been friends since the day we…"

The explorer stops talking and races for the basement door. The unchained mad man dog chases after him. _Creak, creak, creak, creak_ ; Sora runs up the old wooden steps and stops at the front door. He tries to push it but finds it won't open. He looks through the hole where the doorknob had once been and see that wood has been put across the entrance. The explorer turns and looks to see Goofy running up the steps towards him.

The chased stands back a bit and kicks the door hard a few times, breaking the entry free. He exits into the hallway and makes a run for someplace to hide from his crazy friend. His decision takes him upstairs to the second level. He turns and heads back to the room where the duck is but when he gets to the end of the hall he finds its closed and locked. Donald screams from within and a mad snarl carries out from within. Sora turns away, backing up to do a big kick, but stops as he sees the unchained, mad man dog looking at him.

"Goofy, Donald is in trouble. Do you remember him? He's your buddy, one of your best friends, please snap out of your spell and help me," says Sora. He watches as his unchained mad version of a dear friend stares at him, looking with his red eyes and foam teeth. Goofy let's out a loud growl and charges up the steps, but as he runs one of the steps gives way and he plummets down back into the basement. "Goofy!" screams the explorer. He runs down to the broken step and looks at the dear man dog who is lying flat on his face. "Goofy…"

Sora looks away from the scene and back up the steps. He needs to get Donald out of here, Goofy it seems, is truly long gone. The door though, its locked and without a doubt its that monster in there doing something horrible to him. He summons his keyblade, walks up the steps and makes a left turn. He stands at the end of the hall facing the door to the room that holds the duck and charges, kicking it in. He stares in horror, his key blade goes away, the duck's dead.

"You've been running, hiding and messing up my house," says the creature as he drains the last bit of Donald's blood. He turns away and grins. "You know what I am."

"A monster," replies the failed rescuer. "You're some creature from the darkness of this world."

"Yes, and no I'm afraid is the correct answer."

"What do you mean?"

"I am a cursed human. I have committed horrible sins and now I pay for them, but I will make sure that all those that make way onto my soil will be dealt…a handsome reward."

"'A handsome reward?'"

"That collar around your neck makes you a playmate, a pet, a friend to me and ensures that you won't die, or at least until I find someone, or something better than you."

"Well, you better kill me now because I'm going to kill you if you don't."

The monster raises its middle finger and slices off the duck's neck. "Does it sound like I'm scared?"

"I bet you want me to kill you if you're cursed."

"No, I want you to play with me!" screams the dark brown creature. It makes a jump forward and tackles Sora to the ground. It flexes its metal claws close to the failed rescuers eyes and begins to snarl in playful manner. "Come on. Let's play hide and seek. You can hide yourself and when I find you, I can naw on you a bit."

Sora looks up at a dead potted plant, grabs it and smashes the creature with it. He moves the unconscious monster off of him and stands up. He sighs and turns around, seeing his old pal Goofy out in the second floor hallway. The unchained, mad man dog stares, transfixed, and lost.

"Stop, don't come near me," says the failed rescuer. Goofy walks, only not towards Sora, but to the creature. He gets on his knees and sinks his teeth right into its shoulder. The monster screams as blood shoots out and spills all over the floor. Sora looks down at the body of the creature and sees a zipper. "A handmade fur coat. So you were human after all. Even though you acted so much like a beast."

The explorer walks over the monster, past his long gone pal and into the hallway. He turns around, walks down the steps, jumps over the broken one and lands on the ground floor. He looks around seeing nothing else to do but leave. He shouldn't let Goofy be alone, but he's dead, or at least mentally he is. He can travel back to King Mickey and give his report. They probably won't believe him, but he'll have to see if he can get anyone to listen to his tale.

"I wonder," says Sora. He stops at the door and looks back behind him up at the steps. He can see the unchained, mad man dog with blood all over his face. "Should we have come here, or was that a mistake? There was no heartless, keyhole, or even any other good here. Just a villain who if we didn't stop here may have taken more strangers and put them through possibly worse torment than we've all been through."

"S- Sora…h- help me…" Says Goofy.

The explorer looks away, unlocks the main door to the outside and exits the manor. The unchained, mad man dog drops to the floor, curls up and begins to shake. He's twitching uncontrollably, his eyes are moving around in the back of his head and the foaming is falling out faster onto the floor. Goofy does a mad jolt. A second follows. Then a third before he dies, spread eagle out on his back, looking up at the lights in the main hallway. He's a stone statue, lost for good and he could've gotten help, but the time, he wouldn't have any, it ran out when he awoke.

12


End file.
